Ross Ashcroft is a British filmmaker, broadcaster and entrepreneur. He is the host of the weekly programme Renegade Inc.

Early life and education

Ashcroft was born in Liverpool and grew up in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. He attended St David's College, Llandudno where he excelled at sport and as Managing Director of the

Young Enterprise Young Enterprise is a national charity who specialise in Enterprise Education and Financial Education. Young Enterprise works directly with young people, teachers, volunteers and influencers to build a successful and sustainable future for all you ...

company took it to the national finals. He is dyslexic and passionate about entrepreneurship. He graduated from Royal Agricultural University with a Bachelor of Science in Land Management.

Career

Early work

Ashcroft worked briefly with the BBC and then went on to work at Everyman and Playhouse Youth Theatre in Liverpool as an

Assistant Director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

. In 2002 he was Assistant Director for The New Shakespeare Company's 2002 season at Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park working on ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'', ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'' and '' Oh, What a Lovely War!'' with Benedict Cumberbatch. Working with ACT Productions in London's West End his final Assistant Director role was on August Strindberg's play ''

The Dance of Death The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

'' in 2003 with

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

Frances de la Tour Frances J. de Lautour (born 30 July 1944), better known as Frances de la Tour, is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom ''Rising Damp'' from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and thr ...

and Owen Teale. As a comedian, he won the Comedy Café New Act Award 2007. He was a semi-finalist of

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past wi ...

in 2007 and a finalist in the

Hackney Empire New Act of the Year The NATYS: New Acts of The Year Showcase, previously known as The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year, is an annual industry showcase that promotes new waves of emerging Comedy and Variety acts. It ran at the Hackney Empire Theatre from 1988 until ...

in 2009.

Motherlode

In 2007 he co-founded the London-based production and strategy house Motherlode. In 2009 Motherlode established an in-house brand 'Renegade Economist', as a response to mainstream economics and economist's failure to adequately explain the

2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

. In 2012 his directorial debut film '' Four Horsemen'' premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

Four Horsemen

As a director/writer, Ashcroft's documentary feature ''Four Horsemen'' premiered at IDFA in Amsterdam in the competition category 'First Appearance'. It was also nominated for the Oxfam Global Justice Award. The film won 'Best International Documentary' at the Galway Film Fleadh and 'Best International Film' at the Tehran Film Festival. For film features 23 international thinkers including Prof.

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, and a full professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the Joh ...

, Prof Noam Chomsky,

Gillian Tett Gillian Tett (born 10 July 1967) is a British author and journalist at the ''Financial Times'', where she is chair of the editorial board and editor-at-large, US. She has written about the financial instruments that were part of the cause of the ...

Ha-Joon Chang Ha-Joon Chang (; ; born 7 October 1963) is a South Korean institutional economist, specialising in development economics. Chang is the author of several widely discussed policy books, most notably ''Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strateg ...

, Prof. Michael Hudson, Lawrence Wilkerson, Satish Kumar, Prof.

Herman Daly Herman Edward Daly (July 21, 1938 – October 28, 2022) was an American ecological and Georgist economist and professor at the School of Public Policy of University of Maryland, College Park in the United States, best known for his time as a s ...

and John Perkins. The film fundamentally attacks neoclassical economics and asks why the neoclassical ideology, after such systemic failure, is still taught in almost all universities today.

Reception

Cinesthesiac said that Ashcroft "may be the first documentarist working in this field to elicit viable solutions from his interviewees, rather than baleful shrugs: you can't fail to emerge better informed, and better prepared to make the kinds of changes and perception shifts we need to make if we are to move forward from here." ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' said: "The refreshing thing about this film is that Ross Ashcroft also takes the viewer on a broader journey, linking in terrorism, global warming and poverty along with world finances to present a troubling picture of the world today."

Renegade Inc

Renegade Inc is an independent media company created to make complex economic, business and geopolitical questions accessible to a broader audience. In 2016 Renegade Inc started broadcasting as a weekly television programme on Russia Today. Renegade Inc contributors are selected because they think differently about the challenges we all face. The programme covers current affairs, economics, innovation, creative leadership, entrepreneurship, banking scandals, terrorism, and geopolitical events.

Books

In 2012 the book 'Four Horsemen: The Survival Manual' was published which Ashcroft co-wrote with Mark Braund. It was the accompanying book to the documentary 'Four Horsemen'.

Personal life

Ashcroft is married and lives in London. He is a keen cricketer and a cricket coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcroft, Ross 1977 births Living people British businesspeople British film directors English screenwriters English male screenwriters People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral